Links Ahoy! Thursday, January 20, 2011

1) Good morning, Los Angeles! KPCC has a nice little lump of coal for us, albeit a detailed, thorough report. Mayor Villaraigosa says at least the weather is a plus! One person's heaven can be another's hell, but I won't insult nature and God by denying the weather is California's gift right now.
*Just sayin': I've met Villaraigosa during past press events and will say that he has a knack for tailored suits. The secret? Tight-fitting around the thighs as opposed to a floaty fit. Makes you look virile and stuff. Not skinny suit legs or showing a d*c*-print, but a streamlined fit. I think we should try it next time!



2) The Wrap has a story about an outgoing NBC exec's rumored $200,000 personal bathroom. I have seen this sort of deluxe doghouse/executive bathroom field of dreams before and it n-e-v-e-r pans out, does it? The one I knew of, not 60 feet from my news desk, was not a six-figure model, but it did house a lot of.... hand-lotion. I don't know for what (actually, I do) but I will say that exec got pushed from a mile high.

I've said it many times, but when you're making six figures or more then the gig and your trajectory is your ride and what you do with it is your business until the wheels fall off. Still, it is tough out here and the industry is still hard-balling.Los Angeles County is full of former hot rods now on hard rollers having to navigate this stuff all over again, even though they had a great perch. Don't flush it away. You're fortunate. Don't want to pee next to the clerk? Get a key.


3) 'There is only one interpretation of losing $580' :Jemima Kiss nails the MySpace unraveling in this succinct Guardian post.



4) Nim Chimpsky, a chimpanzee born in 1973 and the subject of an extensive study of (sign) language acquisition has already been detailed in a book and is featured in the Sundance 2011 documentary Project Nim that HBO just bought. This Nim photo is cute as all hell, even though I know chimps probably don't like red turtlenecks, especially the ones in the 1970s--trust me, this 70s kid remembers those turtle neck braces! I gotta post this photo-- I love Nim! Nim died in 2000 at age 26. Here is his Wiki page.

Flop? The Triumph of Oprah Winfrey's Beloved

It's very possible that this will never get six degrees within Oprah Winfrey's eyesight, but every time I hear of her personal disappointment about the box office of the 1998 release of "Beloved" I want to tell her how proud of the film she should be. I know, I know, but I have to say it again, especially after yesterday's quotes from her Piers Morgan interview airing January 17th on CNN.

"Beloved" is one of my favorite books from one of my favorite writers, Toni Morrison. The novel is a gothic, poetic, fever dream of a former slave, Sethe, who may or may not be housing the adult embodiment of the toddler daughter she murdered rather than release to her former slave owner. The 1987 book is a Pulitzer-prize winning classic and one that many felt could never be done justice by a film version.

I remember the publicity for the Oprah Winfrey-starring version, directed by Jonathan Demme and produced by Harpo Productions: the Vogue cover, the same-day Oprah Winfrey show devoted to the cast and launch of the movie that weekend (she called it "my baby."), and the making-of book Ms. Winfrey wrote called "Journey to Beloved."

The movie did not do well financially but it was a film, a passion project, that absolutely changed my attitude toward reconciliation and forgiveness in my own life, especially when contrasted with the horrors of slavery and the grace/pain-equity required for every individual touched by it to outlive it. It's hard to watch some of the brutality onscreen, re-enacted by brave actors such as Danny Glover, Kimberly Elise, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Beah Richards and Thandie Newton in the title role. Ms. Winfrey gives a vanity-free, stunning performance and it's a tremendous, difficult triumph (see my Amazon.com review of the film here). When I worked on 'The Practice' in 1999, I told Lisa Gay Hamilton on the Manhattan Studios set how amazing I thought her work was as the younger Sethe. Some films, to actors, are performance clinics and this film is one to watch and learn from. If you can watch Beah Richards' scene as Baby Suggs, late in the film, imploring the gathered to love themselves and not feel it in your DNA, then......

No amount of blog posts or articles can revise the initial box-office tally of "Beloved" but it is not a bad movie and it's certainly not an embarrassment. It's a raw slice of history, our history, that needs to exist and does exist for all who wish to see it or add the film to a list of films to catch up on. I am sorry that the failure of the movie pained her, but to dismiss the artistic and humane of such a labor of love a 'flop' just isn't true. That's all I'm sayin' and 12 years later I still give all props to the movie being made and made so well. I'll have some mac n' cheese to that collaborative spirit and effort of truth any day. So to Oprah, wherever you are: thank you.